1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to billiards racks, and more particularly to a billiards rack that includes alignment indicia for aligning the billiards rack on the billiards table.
2. Description of Related Art
The following art teaches various billiards racks for positioning billiard balls on a billiards table for the start of a game of billiards. A standard billiards rack is a simple triangular structure that holds the balls in a triangular configuration. The top ball in the rack is visually aligned with a locator mark on the pool table so that the triangular configuration of balls is correctly positioned on the table. This system is quick and easy to use, but it can provide inconsistent results because the position of the rack is only roughly approximated based upon the location of the top ball, and there is no precise control over the rotational orientation of the rack, this is merely estimated by the user.
Various forms of racks have been developed with more accurate alignment systems, generally involving the alignment of lasers mounted on the rack with particular points on the sidewalls of the pool table. Belknap, U.S. Pat. No. 6,629,897, for example, teaches a billiards rack that includes a rack locator that includes a laser and a photodetector that together cause an indicator to illuminate when the rack is correctly positioned with respect to the table.
Nearhood, U.S. Pat. No. 7,063,620, teaches another embodiment of a billiards rack that includes lasers. The light from the lasers is aligned with indicia on the billiards table for aligning the rack on the table.
While the laser systems are effective, they are more expensive, and they require batteries to be supplied and replaced. They are also more likely to be damaged or knocked out of alignment. These references are hereby incorporated by reference in full.
The prior art teaches billiards racks that include lasers that may aligned with components on the side of a billiards table. However, the prior art does not teach a billiards rack that includes alignment elements having alignment indicia that may be placed over and visually aligned with alignment marks of a playing surface of the billiards table. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages as described in the following summary.